FPC Arduino

FPC-Arduino

Seeed Studios has a new version of the Arduino that they're calling the Seeeduino Film. Instead of the traditional fiberglass substrate they've used a resin material to produce a Flexible Printed Circuit (FPC). In addition to its flexibility their aim with this prototype was to keep it modular. From what we can see each of the four squares is a different component in the Arduino system. The photo … [Read more...]

Sidecar reminiscent of conjoined twins

sidecar-car

Finally, an answer to the problem of sidecar dorkiness. [François Knorreck] spent ten years hand crafting a sidecar with a beautiful design and a luxurious interior for two. The frame is aluminum, the body is mostly carbon fiber, and there are countless details such as automatic chain tension control and steering for the sidecar wheel that make this more than just a pretty paint job. [Thanks … [Read more...]

Programmable Origami

Researchers at MIT have come up with this slick demo of, what they call,  programmable matter. This flat sheet covered in tiny foil actuators can be programmed to fold into specific shapes. Shown in the video above is a boat and an airplane.  Using the concepts set down by origami through the years, they can divide the sheet into triangles in specific arrangements to make certain shapes … [Read more...]

Cameras perch on power lines, steal electricity

power-line-perched-cameras

[Tim] let us know about a video outlining some covert camera devices the Air Force is developing. The video takes a lot of time to explain induction to those who've never heard of it but we liked to see the bird-like concept animations. They've already developed cameras that will clamp on to power lines in order to use induction as a power source. Shown in the video is an eight-rotor quadcopter … [Read more...]

Touchscreen scooter computer

scooter-computer

[Kurt's] scooter computer started off as a way to use a couple of LEDs to show the battery charge on his hog. It was based on a Arduino and used a voltage divider to judge how much juice was left. But then he ran across a touch-screen OLED shield for the Arduino and the project started to take off. Now he's got battery, temperature, real-time clock, and GPS running through the slick-looking … [Read more...]

Houses to go from leftover scraps

hickshaw

[Derek Diedricksen] builds nomadic houses from left over building materials. Some are large enough to haul behind a vehicle or, in the case of the one above, small enough to tote around like a wheelbarrow. We love them because not only do they reuse material that might commonly hit the landfill, but they look good. Check out the first couple of episodes from the Yellow House series after the … [Read more...]

Tank drone with automatic targeting and tracking

tank-drone

Humankind is making some great advances toward our own destruction with this tank drone. It's got a powerful set of treads with an Airsoft rifle perched atop. Thanks to the cameras and the laser this thing can accurately target based on color. The hardware is controlled by a collection of Arduino boards connected via XBee so that Processing can be used on a computer. Just combine this with the … [Read more...]